Wrench.



J. v. ERIXON.

WRENCH.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 11` 19H.

JOHN v. ERIXON. 0F Queria. message.

Specication of Letters Patent.

' Patented Nov. 23, 1915;

.AipplicationLlemManeh-:l11, 11911. Ser-ialiNzo. 6185767.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN V. ERrxoN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Omaha, in the county of Douglas and State of Nebraska, have invented new and useful Improvements in Wrenches, of which the following is a specification.

The invention relates to wrenches and has for an object to provide a device for gripping various materials, such as pipes and the like.

For the purpose mentioned, use is made of a grooved handle provided with an integral jaw having a series of gripping teeth formed thereon, a second jaw mounted to slide in the slots of the said handle and means threadedly engaging said handle and operable thereon to engage the said second jaw and position the same relatively to the head of the handle.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings constituting a part of this specification, in which similar characters of reference denote corresponding parts in all the views, and in which- Figure 1 is a perspective view showing my device gripping a pipe. Fig. 2 is a transverse section taken on the line2-2 in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a transverse section taken on the line 3--3 in Fig. 1.

Referring more particularly to the views, I provide a handle 10 having the lower portion thereof threaded and having a plurality of oppositely disposed grooves 11 formed therein and extending longitudinally thereof. The upper end of the handle is integrally formed into a fixed jaw 12 having a series of teeth 18 formed on the under side thereof. Mounted to slide on the handle 10 is a movable jaw 14 having a series of teeth 15 formed at the upper end thereof, the said jaw being provided with inwardly extending lugs 16 movable in the grooves 11 of the handle 10, thus permitting a slight swinging movement of the jaw relatively to the handle. The lower end of the movable jaw 14 has an outwardly extending flanged base 17 and as will be readily understood, while the upper portion of therjaw 14 is formed in a solid piece, the lower portion. thereof is bifurcated to extend partially around the handle 10 as shown in Fig. 2. rlhreadedly engaging the handle v10 is an adjusting nut 18, the upper side of the nut being adapted to engage the base 17 of the jaw 14. The flanged base 17 of the movable jaw 14 projects laterally from the opposite outer side faces ofthe movable jaw 14, and extends the full transverse extent thereof, the bottom surface of the flange 17 is convexed as at 17. By the engagement of the convexed portion 17 with the upper surface of the adjusting nut 18, when a pull in one direction on the handle 10 is given, the lugs 16 on the movable jaw will cause the convexed surface upon the flange 17 to slide upon the upper surface of the nut 18, thereby assuring a quick and firm gripping action of the movable jaw with the pipe`20. The gripping action of the jaw 14 increasing with a tendency to move the pipe 2() toward the shank of the wrench and upon the movement of the shank 10 in the reversed direction, the gripping action of the jaw 14 gradually decreases through the sliding action of the lug 16 in the groove 11 and the convexed surface 17 upon the nut 18. A set screw 19 is disposed in the lower end of the handle 10 to prevent the nut 18 from being entirely unscrewed from the handle. Now when it is desired to employ my wrench to grip a pipe 20, the nut 18 is operated to move upwardly on the handle and the same, engaging the base 17 of the jaw 14 will move the said jaw longitudinally to the handle so that the teeth of the jaw will grip the pipe 2O in engagement with the teeth 13. It will be readily understood that to release the pipe from engagement with .the wrench the nut 18 is operated to move downwardly on the handle, thus releasing the j aw 14 from gripping engagement with the pipe so that the same can be removed from contact with the jaw 12.

My device can preferably be constructed in three parts, thus producing a simple and eliicient article of manufacture and it will be understood that I do not limit myself to the construction disclosed in the drawings, the scope of the invention being substantially dened in the appended claim.

Having thus fully described the invention, what I claim as new, is

A wrench comprising a threaded shank having a fixed jaw and a longitudinally extending groove upon opposite sides thereof, a nut threadedly engaged with said shank, a movable jaw carried by said shank and provided on its outer side faces for the full transverse extent thereof with a laterally extending flange, said ange having a con- In testimony whereof I aiX my signature vexed bottom surface adapted to Contact in presence of two Witnesses. with said nut, and lugs carried by said jaw JOHN V. ERIXON. and disposed V:in said grooves adapted to ef- Witnesses:

5 feet a sliding movement of said surface upon HARRY C. SAMUELSON,

said nut. W. G. DoTtrs.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents. Washington, D. C. 

